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HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT THE 



Dedication of the Memorial Tablet 

ON THE ARSENAL 

Benefit Street, corner of Meeting 

Providence, R. I. 

Thursday, July 19, 191 7 



GEORGE B; PECK, M. D. 

Adjutant Veteran Association, P. M. C. A. 
Late Lieutenant 2d Regt. R. I. Vols. 



.8 



Gift 
Author 

! ISM 



EVIDENCE MARINE CORPS 

CHARTERED 1801. - 
OTHER OF THE RHODE I SLAND BATTERIES. 

THIS. ARMORY THERE WENT FOR SERVICE AT THE 
", DURING THE WAR FOR THE UNION 1861-1865.. 

V JT BATTEFX CAPTAIN CHARLES H.TOMPKINS 

BATTERY A CAPTAIN WILLIAM H.REYNOLDS 

BATTERY B CAPTAIN THOMAS F. VAUGHAN 

"ATTERY C CAPTAIN WILLIAM B. WEEDEN 

"f ERY D CAPTAIN JOHN ALBERT MUNROE 

TlERY E CAPTAIN GEORGE E.RANDOLPH 

TERY F CAPTAIN JAMES BELGER 

JATTERY G CAPTAIN CHARLES D. OWEN 

BATTERY H CAPTAIN JEFFREY HAZARD 



CAPTAIN EDWIN C.GALLUP 

ENLISTED MEN 2277 



KILLED WOUNDED AND MISSIN G 17 KILLE D WOUNDED AND MISSING 362 
IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 1898: 
BATTERY A CAPTAIN EDGAR R BARKER 

• OFFICERS 4 ENLISTED MEN 106 

-THIS TABLET IS PLACED BY THE VETERAN ASSOCIATION 

■ R M. C. A. 

* 1917 ^ 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

Delivered July 19, 1917, at the 

DEDICATION OF THE MEMORIAL TABLET 
ON THE ARSENAL, 

Benefit Street, corner of Meeting, Providence, R. I. 



Presumably at this very instant stands on the firing line, 
somewhere in France," cousins at once and allies, 
fighting their battles and ours, two regiments, whose fame 
for more than two centuries has been conspicuously and 
indissolubly entwined with that of Britain — the Black 
Watch and the Coldstream Guards. The former, some- 
times known as the 42d Highlanders, at Fontenoy, May 
11, 1745, like the Rhode Island troops at the first Bull 
Run, lost all but honor; the latter assisted in placing 
Charles II on his father's throne. Passing unnoticed the 
services of these, the oldest of Scotia's and of England's 
troops, in the 18th century and merely observing that in 
the 19th both were at Waterloo where the Coldstreams 

3 



won imperishable glory by their stubborn defence of the 
Chateau Hougomont, that both were in the Crimea and 
also in India during the Sepoy mutiny where the Black 
Watch secured immortality at the relief of Lucknow, I 
ask how must the crippled veterans of these regiments in 
Chelsea hospital, and those less disabled scattered through- 
out the United Kingdom, regard the banners under which 
they fought, how esteem the stripplings, their successors, 
who have assumed the burdens they have been compelled 
to lay aside? 

Identical are the sentiments that prompted the Marine 
Artillery Veteran Association to erect the tablet we have 
met to dedicate ; identical the interest and the love cher- 
ished toward those about to enter a conflict from whose 
pleasures and perils and honors we alas are debarred by 
the infirmities of age. The Providence Marine Corps of 
Artillery, now in its 117th year, is the oldest military 
organization in this county. It assisted in throwing up 
fortifications for the defence of the town in the war of 
18 1 2, in quelling the Dorr Insurrection in 1842, and in 
crushing the greater rebellion of 1861-5; was mustered 
into the United States service for a third time in 1898, 
and is now prepared to cross the broad ocean to assist in 
preserving the liberties of the human race. In the inter- 
vals of peace it has supported and strengthened the na- 
tional government by sending to the Senate Chamber for 

4 



five successive terms, at a critical period of our history, 
Henry Bowen Anthony, journalist, orator and ex-gov- 
ernor, and later William Sprague; the State by placing in 
the gubernatorial chair Henry Lippitt, Henry Howard, 
Royal C. Taft, and the younger Elisha Dyer, and upon 
the Supreme Bench as Chief Justice that sterling Quaker, 
William Read Staples; the city by bestowing its mayoralty 
for 1 8 years on Thomas Arthur Doyle. The Marine 
Artillery was a povjer in the land in those days ! It has 
elevated the character of our citizens through the influence 
and example of that scholar and scientist John R. Bartlett, 
for long years Secretary of State, of that charming poet 
Albert G. Greene, of that eloquent advocate Benjamin 
F. Thurston, of that delightsome artist Augustus Hoppin, 
of that soulful musician Eben A. Kelly and of those 
church pillars James H. Read, Benjamin H. Gladding 
and Charles F. Wilcox. It has cared for their material 
interests through the inventions of William A. Harris, 
the administrative skill of George H. Smith first superin- 
tendent of city railways, and the business acumen of Cyrus 
B. Manchester, Cyrus Taft, Tully D. Bowen, William 
T. Dorrance, Rufus Waterman and Henry T. Beckwith. 
Representing these men and countless others of equal 
worth though less publicly known and as surviving com- 
rades of the quasi-military duty pertinent to their day and 
generation, we the Veteran Association, P. M. C. A., 

5 



have assembled this day to pay our last tribute of respect 
to those who, counting not their life dear unto them, 
passed out through yon portals prepared to sacrifice their 
all for honor, country, God ! 

To many the crash of rebel shot and shell against the 
walls of Sumter, April 12, 1861, was as the crackling of 
thunderbolts in a clear sky. Yet all had not been sleep- 
ing. Governor Sprague, direct from Magenta and Sol- 
ferino, had scented the battle from afar and had prepared 
for the conflict so far as circumstances permitted. In less 
than 72 hours after Lincoln had called for 75,000 volun- 
teers for three months service the Marine Artillery as First 
Battery and numbering 145 officers and men was on its 
way to the front with complete equipment and carriages 
freshly painted. At Easton, Pa., it exchanged its six 
smoothbore pieces for an equal number of James rifled can- 
non, a Rhode Island invention, thus becoming not only the 
first volunteer but the first rifled battery in United States 
forces. Captain Tompkins, tall, erect, blond, fully bearded 
and barely 27 years, perfectly embodied boyhood's ideal; 
his subsequent rapid promotion to the colonelcy of the 
three year regiment with the successful maintenance of his 
position for more than two years as Chief of Artillery of 
the Sixth Army Corps, often designated Sheridan's Heavy 
Cavalry, not less than the brevet of Brigadier for services 
before Richmond and in the Shenandoah vindicated the 

6 



judgment. The chances of war limited the Battery's 
service to marching and outpost duty, having once only the 
opportunity of tossing a few shells into the enemy's wood. 
Sixty-three of its enlisted men re-entered the service, nine 
of whom won commissions. 

May 24, 1862, Governor Sprague received a telegram 
requesting him to send at once all available troops to Wash- 
ington to repel a threatened attack by Stonewall Jackson. 
The state, like the national government, was totally unpre- 
pared. Edwin C. Gallup, a sergeant in the First Battery, 
chanced to be at the head of our active corps. Not until 
the 29th did the first detachment of 96 men leave, rein- 
forced at Washington June 6th by 40 men and on the 9th 
by 25 more. Not until the 14th did it receive its arma- 
ment, six 12-pounders. With the exception of a tramp 
to Cloud's Mills, Va. , to participate in an advance to 
Richmond by the Great Unready that never materialized, 
the Tenth Battery spent its three months of service in 
camp near Tenallytown, D. C. , where its drills were one 
of the recognized sights of the Capital. Captain Gallup 
was a gentleman in the technical sense of the term and 
elegantly entertained his numerous guests while his next in 
command conducted the evolutions. Six of the enlisted 
men had served in the First Battery and 28 re-entered the 
service in various organizations. 

Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, 
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was mustered into service June 6, 1861. Its fame rests 
not less upon its conduct on the battlefield than on the 
number of its enlisted men that rose to responsible posi- 
tions. First Sergeant George E. Randolph became Chief 
of Artillery of the 3d Army Corps; 5th Line Sergeant 
Charles D. Owen, Captain of Battery G; Corporal T. 
Frederic Brown, Captain of Battery B, serving through 
the entire war despite a severe wound at Gettysburg; and 
Private Elmer L. Corthell, eventually one of the world's 
eminent civil engineers, Captain of Battery D; Sergeant 
William H. Walcott became a Captain in the 17th U. S. 
Infantry, lost a leg at Gettysburg, and yet remained on 
duty until January 7, 1865, when he was retired, receiv- 
ing the brevets of Lt. Col. and Col., U. S. A., subse- 
quently. Of the corporals, William A. Sabin became 
Captain in the 3d Heavy Artillery; Harry C. Cushing, 
Captain and Brevet Major in the 4th U.S. Artillery, com- 
manding for long years the light battery at Fort Adams; 
while Charles H. Clark, G. Lyman Dwight and George 
W. Field won regimental first lieutenances. Sergeants 
Henry Newton and Francis A. Smith secured second lieu- 
tenancies. First Lieutenant John Albert Monroe organ- 
ized and drilled the battery and through the instruction and 
inspiration given insured the reputation of Rhode Island 
Light Artillery. Noting that Clark had graduated from 
the English High School but two years before, Owen but 



one year, and that Monroe and Dwight and Cushing (all 
my classmates) and Brown and Corthell had left college 
for the service, and that with a possible single exception 
all were beardless at a time when it was unfashionable for 
men to shave, you can readily form a pretty correct idea 
of the "Boys of '61." In view of his subsequent 
brilliant record I am constrained to add that Brown then 
possessed the most exquisite complexion I ever saw in 
man. His delicately pink cheeks, graceful carriage and 
refined manner were perfectly maidenly! Expected now 
but not then these men exhibited the utmost coolness at 
their baptism of fire, Cushing and Dwight quoting from 
the poets as changing scenes suggested while the latter 
ventured to call Monroe's attention to the beauty thereof 
but he had too many responsibilities to think on such mat- 
ters. Eight weeks later Captain William H. Reynolds 
was Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment. The battery 
was engaged in a dozen pitched battles, has 279 names on 
its roll and lost 13 killed, 64 wounded. It was mustered 
out June 18, 1864. Fifty men who had re-enlisted or 
enlisted to make good losses by disease were transferred to 
Battery B. 

That battery had been mustered into service August 13, 
1 86 1. Four months later Capt. Thomas F. Vaughn 
resigned. At one time Major and Brevet Brigardier 
General John G. Hazard, Chief of Artillery of the 2d 

9 



Army Corps and later Colonel of the 5th U. S. Vet. Vol. 
Infantry, was likewise its Captain. Battery B was mus- 
tered out June 12, 1865, having served three years and 
ten months. Three hundred and seventy-six were en- 
rolled; it lost 12 killed, 44 wounded and two missing. 
Nineteen engagements were ordered to be inscribed on its 
colors, among them Gettysburg where 7 men were killed, 
35 wounded, 65 horses killed or wounded, 5 guns ren- 
dered useless by rapidity and duration of fire, while the 
6th, quite as effectually disabled, now reposes in our State 
House; Spottsylvania, where it was planted 150 yards from 
the rebel rifle pits and when the assault was made a section 
(platoon in modern parlance) accompanied the advanc- 
ing line to the breastworks and fired over them at the 
Bloody Angle, the first time a battery was ever ordered to 
charge; also Ream's Station, where it was well-nigh anni- 
hilated, losing 4 killed, 52 wounded, 4 guns and caissons 
and 61 horses. 

Battery C, Capt. William B. VVeeden, was mustered 
August 25, 1 86 1, and merged with Battery G, December 
23, 1864, 44 of the original members having returned 
home August 27. Its roll bears 225 names; 16 were 
killed, 26 wounded and 2 reported missing. Eighteen 
battles are inscribed on its colors, among them the Second 
Bull Run where it expended 600 rounds of shell and case, 
and Shepardstown where about 500 more were con- 
sumed. 



Battery D was in the service from September 4, 1861, 
until July 17, 1865. Two hundred and seventy men were 
enrolled during that period. Of this number 6 were 
killed and 25 wounded with 5 reported missing at Antie- 
tam. There, thrown by Hooker 200 yards in advance of 
the line of battle it absolutely squelched a rebel battery 
enfilading our lines, compelling its survivors to abandon 
their pieces in situ. In turn, however, it was forced to 
fall back by the flank fire of riflemen that had crept into 
easy range and killed on a single piece every horse but one 
and killed or wounded every man save the gunner and one 
cannoneer. All its pieces were brought in although 56 
horses had been killed. At the Second Bull Run, when pro- 
tecting our left flank with a number of other batteries, the 
Rebs issuing suddenly from a wood made a charge in force. 
On their near approach, the first support, though well 
protected by the sunken road it was occupying, broke and 
ran like a flock of sheep, as did the second line in rear of 
the batteries. The artillerymen followed their example, 
all but Monroe's men who continued hurling cannister 
until the Johnnies could almost lay their hands upon the 
pieces. Then he gave the order, Limber to the rear, 
caissons left about," which was executed with accuracy 
and promptness, so that, to the amazement of all others, 
the guns were literally snaked from out the enemy's grasp. 
When a distance of some 300 yards had been gained in 

11 



the retreat, "Action rear," was ordered, and again his 
guns were doing effective work. A second time the bat- 
tery limbered up at the last moment only again to unlimber 
at the proper distance. At that moment Monroe was 
informed that only a few rounds of solid shot were remain- 
ing so he reluctantly retired from the field. Every other 
gun on that flank was lost! The evident value of their 
previous severe drills shut the mouths of the most com- 
plaining. Afterward Monroe organized and successfully 
conducted for nearly a year the School for Artillery at 
Washington, later serving as Chief of Artillery to the 2d 
and 9th Corps successively. He attained the rank of 
Lieutenant Colonel and a commission of Brigadier Gen- 
eral was made out for him and signed, but was withheld 
because he would not even postpone his marriage to an 
Alexandria belle. When nine picked regiments from 
Longstreet's Corps assaulted Fort Saunders, at Knoxville, 
November 29, 1863, Sergeant Charles C. Gray, long our 
State Auditor, rendered such conspicuously valuable ser- 
vice that Burnside directed his captain to recommend him 
for a lieutenancy. 

Randolph's Battery E, was mustered in September 30, 
1 861, and out June 14, 1865. Three hundred and fifty- 
five men were identified with it, of whom 12 were killed 
and 32 wounded. Twelve battles were ordered inscribed 
on its colors. In the afternoon and evening of June 1, 

12 



1864, it fired 675 rounds at Cold Harbor, and previously 
(May 10) 530 rounds at Spottsylvania Court House. 
Moreover, on June 17, it fired the first shots into Peters- 
burg. Its captain during the last eight months of his army 
life was Chief of Artillery of the 3d Corps, General 
Sickles, who held him in the very highest esteem. 

Battery F, sometimes designated The Class in Geogra- 
phy because of the multiplicity of its wanderings, how- 
beit they were confined to two hostile States, served from 
October 29, 1861, to June 27, 1865. It was a part of 
Burnside's Coast Division, a semi-naval force, was knocked 
about on shipboard during the storm off Hatteras that caused 
serious disaster to the expedition and great anxiety to friends 
at home, twice landed its battery from vessels by throwing 
the horses overboard and towing them ashore by small 
boats and rafting the guns and other property to the land, 
made numerous raids by land and by water in the Depart- 
ment of North Carolina, served as cavalry for several 
weeks after the capture of New Berne and made a repu- 
tation of which it was justly proud, considerably inside a 
year. Its subsequent history is practically an intensified 
repetition. It enrolled 297 men, of whom 10 were killed 
and 26 wounded. Capt. James Belger had spent most of 
the preceding ten years as First Sergeant of Magruder's 
Light Battery in Texas and in Fort Adams. He possessed 
all the excellencies of the old time Regular including the 

13 



ability to carry an indefinite amount of whisky without 
betraying the fact. 

Capt. Owen had but attained the age of 19 years, 2 
months, 5 days, when appointed to the command of Bat- 
tery G. Two hundred and eighty-seven men were en- 
rolled, of whom 8 were killed and 49 wounded. Fifteen 
engagements were ordered inscribed on its guidon. Seven- 
teen men received special Congressional Medals of Honor 
for accompanying the 6th Corps when it pierced the rebel 
lines on the morning of April 2, 1865, and turning the 
enemy's guns upon themselves. That any unusual cour- 
age, hazard or skill was involved in this affair is, however, 
not apparent. Nevertheless its conception contributed 
largely to the securement of the brevet of Colonel for 
George W. Adams, then Captain commanding. The 
Battery served from December 2, 1861, to June 24, 1865. 

Most severely of all did Battery H suffer from the evils 
of the volunteer system and the co-existent curse, bounty 
jumping. Had the extreme penalty for desertion been 
rigorously inflicted, not only the State and National treas- 
uries but the general service would have benefitted im- 
measurably. As it was, although 319 names appear on 
its roll, in March, 1863, a detail of half a hundred or 
more was made from a Vermont brigade to fill its ranks. 
When the terms of 40 of these men expired near mid- 
summer, Jeffrey Hazard, who had made a brilliant record 



in Battery A, and was a typical Christian soldier and gen- 
tleman, threw up his captaincy in despair of seeing any 
more real service, for though its wanderings were many 
and devious it participated in but two battles, the assault 
on Petersburg and Sailor's Creek. It was then under the 
command of Crawford Allen, Jr., whose richly gold- 
embroidered sleeves rendered him well known to the army 
at large. Its losses were two killed and seven wounded. 
Its period of service was from October 14, 1862, to June 
28, 1865. 

Barring three days, exactly 33 years after the collapse 
of the Great Rebellion, consequent upon the surrender of 
Joe Johnson to William Tecumseh Sherman, William 
McKinley, at the earlier date Captain and Brevet Major 
of the 23d Ohio, but at the latter President of the United 
States, called for 125,000 volunteers to oust Spanish forces 
from Cuba and the Cuban waters. On the second sub- 
sequent evening, April 25, 1898, it chancing to be the 
annual meeting of the Marine Artillery, it was unani- 
mously voted that the Corps as Battery A, Brigade Rhode 
Island Militia, tender its services to the Governor for 
foreign duty. The offer was not accepted until May 27. 
On June 8, under command of Captain Edgar R. Barker, 
it left this building for Quonset Point numbering 162 offi- 
cers and men. During the entire interval the officers 
exerted themselves to the limit preparing the Battery for 

15 



service, drilling it in relays the last two weeks day and 
night uninterruptedly. On June 15, it reported 205 pres- 
ent and fit for duty. Under date of June 18, the Gov- 
ernor was advised only no persons could be mustered in 
and accordingly nearly a hundred men were returned to 
their homes. Most of these at once sought adventure in 
the Regular service. On June 25, the Battery was mus- 
tered into the United States service for two years or the 
war as Light Battery A, 1st Artillery, Rhode Island Vol- 
unteers. It was mustered out October 26, 1898, never 
having left camp. No more exasperating, nerve racking 
duty is required of any soldier than watching others hurled 
into a fray from which himself is debarred. None can 
understand the embittering effect unless he has experL 
enced it. Twenty-five per cent, of these men, however, 
did not propose to be despoiled of their fun, but joining 
the Regular army and navy visited the Phillipincs, one 
at least pushing on to Pekin at the time of the Boxer 
uprising. 

Comrades of the Olive Drab! I have outlined as 
briefly as possible the record of your comrades of the red 
cord of the elder days, comrades all in that alike we have 
sworn to obey the orders of our superiors, irrespective. 
Some of the survivors I see before me. Doubt not that they 
will follow your footsteps with the closest attention. Beat 
their record if you can ! Personally I congratulate you 

16 



on the branch of the service you have selected. Prefer- 
able as was the light artillery half a century ago far more 
to be desired is the field artillery of today. I congratulate 
you upon the perfection of the armament with which you 
have been and will be supplied. I congratulate you upon 
your officers who have already proved themselves men you 
may trust. I congratulate you in that you will presumably 
defend on foreign soil your mothers and your children, 
your wives and your sweethearts, your homes, your all, 
thereby preserving them from the horrors of Belgium and 
France, of Poland and of Servia, and of Roumania. 
Especially do I congratulate you in that you will take part 
in overthrowing a slavery as debasing and as cruel as any 
that ever existed; as debasing in that it enchained not 
only body but mind and soul ; as cruel in that it is more 
refined. On a certain occasion a General, addressing 
the Coldstream Guards, expressed the hope they would 
do their best. A common soldier, angered by the possibly 
implied innuendo, exclaimed, You know we will do 
our best!" With equal confidence I affirm in this pres- 
ence I know you will do your best ! You dare not do 
otherwise! This is the first time the Veteran Association, 
Providence Marine Corps of Artillery, as a unit, has met 
you; it may be the last. Certainly, as individuals, we 
will not all meet. Whithersoever your footsteps are 
directed some will succumb to disease. More sure it is a 
number of us will be missing on your return, for many 

17 



are living on borrowed time. It, therefore, remaineth 
for me but to salute you each as an individual — Comrade, 
Hail! Farewell! and if forever, still forever, fare thee 
well! 



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